Compensation and Incentives

Survey effective teachers and leaders currently working in high-poverty schools to determine what effect, if any, financial compensation has on their decisions to move to or stay in high-need schools.

Examine local and national incentive-based programs for lessons learned in encouraging teachers to stay in or move to high-need schools. 

Support local innovation related to recruitment and retention incentives (e.g., housing incentives and local market-based salary bonuses) as well as career advancement opportunities that encourage effective teachers to stay in hard-to-staff schools. 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (North Carolina) established the Strategic Staffing Initiative, which moves teams of administrators and teachers to high-need schools. Under this initiative, effective principals are identified and allowed to select effective members of their current staffs to take with them to a high-need school. 

The state provides financial assistance to students pursuing bachelor’s degree programs, as well as current licensed teachers, to pursue endorsements or master’s degrees in hard-to-staff subject areas. The scholarships are available to those teachers who plan to serve a hard-to-staff geographic area at the rate of one year of service for each award year. 

As part of Pittsburgh’s larger Empowering Effective Teachers plan initiative, which includes increasing the exposure of students with high needs to highly effective teachers as a strategic goal, the Promise-Ready Corps (PRC) is a group of ninth- and 10th-grade teachers who have been identified as effective and who will loop with cohorts of students for two years, providing high-quality core instruction and additional advising (an extra 44-minute period).

The Houston (Texas) Independent School District (HISD) established the Effective Teacher Pipeline project to address concerns voiced by many teachers about working conditions in high-need schools. HISD is concentrating on a small number of high-need schools to increase the number of effective teachers on those campuses. The intent is to create supportive school cultures by placing several effective teachers at each school. Relocating teachers are given a financial incentive, professional development, and leadership opportunities.

The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School in New York City reallocates the regular public school budget to enable the school to pay teachers $125,000 as a recruitment and retention strategy. A recent study by Mathematica Policy Research found a promising impact on student achievement. TEP has adopted its own three Rs for teachers:

As part of its Race to the Top initiatives, Ohio provides participating local education agencies with the opportunity to apply for funds to support a teacher incentive plan of up to $7,500 per teacher to address access to great teachers and leaders. The funding may be used for the following: 

• Relocation and/or retention bonuses
• Reduced class size
• Loan forgiveness programs
• Differentiated pay for effective teachers who assume leadership roles
• Hiring teachers in shortage areas
• A combination of options